The goal of any IT or enterprise mobility manager is to not only develop useful mobile apps, but to drive the highest possible adoption rate of those apps. Apperian provides several tools for monitoring app adoption and popularity of your native apps so you can better determine where more promotion and education is needed, as well as identify when an app may require further testing or design enhancements.

In the following example, the Analytics tab shows that 32 users have access to the current version of the Actions app in the App Catalog. Of the 32 users, six users (18.8% of the assigned users) have downloaded the app. Of the 32 users, 2 users (6.3%) have opened the app.

Launch Rate displays for an app only if the app has the App Usage application policy applied. For more information on the App Usage policy, see Track Application Usage.

Download and Usage Reports

Apperian provides several pre-built reports for tracking and monitoring information about App Catalog users and application access. The table below lists the reports that provide useful data for analyzing the adoption and popularity of your native enterprise apps.

To view data for a particular app, enter the app name in the Search field to filter the report, or click on the App Name field to sort report rows by app.

Report

Description

Download Inventory

Provides a list of the latest version of all native apps that were downloaded from the App Catalog. The list includes the device ID, form factor, OS, and date of the download.

Note that the report lists downloads of the App Catalog, but the initial download of an App Catalog is not counted until a user has logged in to the App Catalog on the device; subsequent downloads of App Catalog updates are counted without requiring the user to log in.

Click here to look at an example report.

Download Activity

Provides a list of all the native apps (not just the latest versions) that were downloaded from the App Catalog. The list includes the device ID, form factor, OS, and date of the download.

Note that the report lists downloads of the App Catalog, but the initial download of an App Catalog is not counted until a user has logged in to the App Catalog on the device; subsequent downloads of App Catalog updates are counted without requiring the user to log in.

Click here to look at an example report.

In this example, the data is filtered to display the download activity for a particular user during the month of August 2013.

Direct Install Activity

Lists information about applications that were downloaded via a direct install URL rather than through the App Catalog. For more information on Direct Install and the Direct Install Activity report, see Delivering Applications via a Direct Install URL.

Click here to look at an example report.

Most Popular Apps

Lists downloaded native apps in descending order by number of downloads.

The report lists App Name, Application ID, App Platform, and Download Count. Download Count includes App Catalog downloads, but the initial download of an App Catalog is not counted until a user has logged in to the App Catalog on the device; subsequent downloads of App Catalog updates are counted without requiring the user to log in.

You can use the Date filter to list the most-downloaded apps during a period of time. Apperian lists only those downloads completed during the specified date range.

Click here to look at an example report.

This report lists the most-downloaded apps during the month of September.

Installed Applications

Lists information about all the applications installed through the App Catalog onto devices in your organization. The report includes details about the application that was installed (including App ID, platform, and version) and the device onto which it was installed (including device user and device ID).

Click here to look at an example report.

App Usage

Lists usage information tracked for all apps with the App Usage policy applied. The report includes the name and ID of the app, date and time of use, and details about the user and device. When an iOS or Android app has the App Usage policy applied, Apperian tracks usage of the app to help you monitor its adoption and popularity. Apperian tracks each time a user opens the app, brings the app from the background to the foreground, or returns to the app from the lock screen. For more information, see Track Application Usage.

Tools for Driving Adoption

Apperian provides several features to help you promote the adoption of new apps and app updates.

Make an app mandatory

If adopting an app is critical, you can mark the app as "Mandatory" when you add it to Apperian. When users launch the App Catalog, they are prompted to install all mandatory apps and cannot continue to use the catalog until they do. For instructions on making an app mandatory, see Add an Application.

You can also mark an app update as mandatory when you upload a new version of the app binary to Apperian. This is done using Application Update Settings on the Edit Applications page. When an update is mandatory, users who have installed the app are required to install the update in order to use the App Catalog. When you make an application update mandatory, you can enable a grace period to enforce that users install the update within a defined number of days after the mandatory date. For instructions on making an app update mandatory, see Edit or Update an Application.

Help users stay current with the latest app version

When you upload a new version of an iOS or Android app to Apperian, you can encourage users to upgrade to the new version using the Self Updating App policy. When a user launches an app with this policy applied, Apperian checks if there is a new version, and if there is, prompts the user to install it.

Promote adoption and usage with push notifications

Through the Apperian Portal, you can send a message (up to 132 characters) to App Catalog users via a push notification to the device. Use these messages to advertise an app to a particular group of users, or to all users of a particular app. Here are a couple examples:

There is a new app available for the Sales team. Send a message like “Log in to the App Catalog to install the awesome new SalesTracker app!” to all members of the “Sales” user group.

Analytics indicate that the usage of the “GoTeam” app has trailed off over the past week. Send a motivating message, such as a tip about a cool feature, to all users who have the “GoTeam” app installed on their devices.

Send users to the app more quickly with a "deep link"

If you are not satisfied with the Download Rate for a particular app, send users a link that points directly to the installation page for the app in the App Catalog. After following the link, a user simply taps once to install the app. For instructions, see Send an App Catalog Deep Link.

Nurture a user community

Encourage users to "spread the word" about their favorite apps to coworkers. App Catalog users can Like and Dislike an app, as well as submit an app review. Other users can view the number of Likes/Dislikes and browse reviews. For more information on this feature, see App Ratings and Reviews.